The Disputed Territory

Since before Christmas we have been clearing a piece of O.'s father's land to make room for a Hindi Bible College and a village medical clinic in the future.

In the following picture you can see the land that is being cleared and there are 2 small houses.
Those houses were built by squatters who just planted themselves there many years ago. We have now been in the process of trying to remove them from there. It's been very difficult and we've done all we could to resettle them elsewhere, but, in typical village mentality, they want to fight.

O. and his team were there from Tuesday morning until last night, working out this problem and building a boundary wall. One family is resettled and happy, the other is fighting tooth and nail. O.'s sister stays there and has to deal with all the abuse from the unhappy villagers while O. is not around. O. left last night and a couple hours after he reached home the phone started ringing again. They were taking O.'s sister to the police station (I don't really know why.) The disgruntled party were, obviously, just waiting for O. to leave (it's 7 hours north of us).

Please pray for O. On top of all of this, he really is sick with a throat infection or something. He's lost his voice and feels terrible. He could really use your prayers. Thanks.

It's That Mango Time Of Year Again

A few weeks ago I stopped to drink freshly blended mango juice. A real (cheap) treat this time of year in India. It's mango season and you don't get them all year round.

As we pulled over to the stand I was acutely aware that it seems like just yesterday that we were drinking mango juice from this very same stand - yet it was last year. How can this be...?

I am often overwhelmed by the passage of time. One day drifts in to another and a week turns into a month and then a year.

Today I've been scrolling through my blog, looking for something. It's amazing how years of my life are passing before my eyes in seconds.

There's just this one life and it's all over so quickly. Thank heaven for the hope of heaven.

C.'s 7th Birthday

Here's C. in her Birthday Dress. She was 7 years old on April 24th and gorgeous - obviously.
We went for a picnic with all our staff for C.'s birthday. We swam and swam.
Fun for big people too!!

G. Oh G.

I was looking for some other photos and I came across this one - I couldn't resist.

The Mass Exodus

Last week our Bible students went home for the summer and this week our Karuna Homes kids left too. Tuesday was the last day of school exams and Tuesday night was the Karuna kids were sent off with their moms and dads in all kinds of directions, well, towards home.

It's just the beginning, after another week our family and our staff will be heading out to various destinations as well.

This May shouldn't be too devastating for me (I get so lonely). We have lot's of traveling planned and meetings in different states. Should be a blast - and by "blast" I'm thinking HOT.

Summer Is Here

As of yesterday summer is officially here in India. School is out and the roof swimming pool is full of water.

Saturday is C.'s birthday and so tomorrow we're going on a picnic with all our staff (60 people) to a "farm" that specializes in picnics. They serve breakfast, lunch, afternoon chai and have 2 swimming pools! Fun!

Yesterday I came upstairs and E. was asleep on my bed. I noticed G. (the 3 year old) scurrying around like a little worker ant placing individual articles of her clothing atop her sister.


Notice individual articles of clothing on sleeping E. in next shot. I assume that G. was placing her own pieces of clothing over her sister to keep her from feeling cold in the air conditioning.


Sadly, such an act of pure kindness toward her sister on G.'s part seems alien, unlikely, although - not impossible I suppose. It all just seemed devious to me somehow...

Bye

We gave our students their report cards today and from tonight they'll start heading home to their families til June.
We took this group shot this morning, all the students and some of the staff.
Bye.

Our Bible Students' Last Week

It just kind of hit me that our Bible students will all be going home for summer vacation this week. Tomorrow is the last exam and a few days after that they are free to go home.

I've spent the last couple days taking individual exit interviews with all of the students and it has been enlightening. There was so much about our students that I didn't know. One of the main questions I asked them was whether they were coming back to complete their 2nd/last year in June. Most are planning come back, only one was a definite No due to her poor health over the last year.

Some students were reluctant to come back because they are penniless and couldn't afford the nominal fees Yeah, I can solve that problem, it's nice when you're the one in charge. Other students (girls) were unsure whether they could come back because they were afraid their families might force them to marry when they go home and not allow them to come back. I spent some time on the phone to family members assuring them that we will take the responsibility of finding husbands for their girls. Another problem solved.

These are some of the things we face and its been a pleasure and a joy to be a part of these 25 students' lives since July. I'm going to miss them.

Today was their last day in church and they sang a special song and 5 students gave testimonies.

Some fun facts about our Bible students:

1. We have two Romeos, one Monalisa, and a Gandhi

2. One of our Romeos became a Christian and was baptized after attending our Bible College. He didn't even know where he was going when he got on the train from the Northeastern state of Assam to come all the way over to us.

Yeah, The Hot Is Here

There is a need inside me to communicate about The Hot here. To let you know, the faithful 8 people who follow my blog, that its hot here and I'm sweaty and salty all the time. I know. Unpleasant.

The Hot, is here.

Cold Turkey

I have no idea where the expression "cold turkey" came from, but that's what we say when you stop something without any prior weaning off. Right? Well, P. is being weaned. I've been on O. for a month to go away for a few days or something. He can't bear the crying. He finally decided today was the day we would wean so he's working all night in the office.


I haven't seen P. since this morning and she is apparently happy as a clam without me around. It's the seeing the mommy that starts off the awful "Mamaaa, mamaaa, mamaaa!" wining til she gets what she wants.


Great day.

P. No more dude (milk) for you.

Its Easter

What a day. We had a love feast after church so I started the day by cooking - lots.

I also must have been going through one of my creative fits because I taught and led a special song with our ladies choir and taught a skit to our Bible students. I had a great time but it stretched me. Always an opportunity to improve my Hindi and push me out of my boundaries.

At last I was in charge of getting the food served. Everyone ate. The only problem we faced was too much food! And I forgot my camera.

Overall I was really relaxed and had a wonderful day. Thank you Jesus. For everything.

Happy Easter everyone.